William spent much of his youth in the care of his grandmother, Albany resident
Sara Cuyler Van Brugh. A younger son
of one of the wealthiest men in colonial Albany, this young teen also
spent a year as a missionary among the Mohawks at Fort
Hunter under the tutelage of one-time Albany neighbor Reverend Henry
Barclay.

At age thirteen, William followed his brothers to New Haven and graduated from Yale University in 1741. Livingston maintained his Yale connection for many years.

But after graduation, he went home to Albany. A brief commercial apprenticeship ruled out business as a career path. Philip Livingston then chose a legal career for his youngest son. Over the next years, he studied law under eminent Manhattan jurist James Alexander. The clerkship was a failure. Experiencing great difficulty applying himself in the New York City setting, William Livingston again returned home. Sent back to New York to clerk under William Smith, after two years, he was admitted to the New York bar.

By
that time, he had begun to gain some repute as a political essayist. He
established a legal practice in New York City. During the 1750s and 60s,
he represented Albany's legal interests in New York. In 1745, he married
Susannah French and lived on Manhattan.

After 1770, he moved his legal practice to New Jersey and built a large home at Elizabeth. He served in the Second Continental Congress, commanded the New Jersey militia, and was elected governor of New Jersey in 1776. He held that office for the remainder of his life.

William Livingston died at his estate in Elizabethtown, New Jersey in 1790 and was buried there.